In recent years, women have made great strides across the sectors. Today, many countries like The United Kingdom, New Zealand, Germany, Norway, Chile, and New Zealand have elected women as the head of state. In Rwanda, 49 of the 80 parliamentarians are women.

In the corporate world, while men continue to dominate certain sectors, women are rising. According to the Federal Reserve, the women labor participation rate is growing, while in Australia, their number is at an all-time high.

The number of female CEOs too is rising too. A report last year by Fortune showed that the number of women CEOs in the Fortune 500 is at an all-time high of 32. At the same time, the number of women in the boards of companies in the Fortune 500 is also at a record high. However, there is more to be done to reach the ideal equal ground scenario. A report by the World Bank showed that women make up just 20% of all the employees in the senior positions in medium and large organizations.

In finance especially, very little progress is occurring. Only 2% of global banking CEOs are women, according to a recent report by the International Monetary Fund. In their study of 800 global banks, IMF found that only 15 of them were serving as the CEO. It is easy to see why. A list of the management committee for Goldman Sachs shows that there are only 2 women in the 31 team committee. At JP Morgan, there are only three women in the 17-person committee.

In the United Kingdom, lawmakers have introduced new regulations that mandate financial firms to sign up to the Women in Finance Charter. This charter mandates financial companies to promote gender diversity by having at least one member of the senior management team responsible for gender issues and inclusion. In a recent report, big banking groups like Goldman Sachs, UBS, and JP Morgan and 33 others were yet to sign up.

This trend is also visible in the startup industry. A report by Crunchbase found that of all startups which received funding, only 17% of them were started by women, and sadly, the number was not growing.

Still, many women from around the world are heading up fintech companies that are changing the world. For example, in 2008, Kathryn Petralia (@Kabbitch) contributed to the world of finance by helping SMEs gain easier way to access capital. She started a company called Kabbage which makes it easy for small companies to get business loans. Today, the company has grown to more than $2 billion in financing.

Another example of a female fintech entrepreneur changing the world is Shivani Siroya (@shivsiroya), a young woman from California. A while back, during her trip to Kenya, she started an app-based company to provide micro-loans to customers. Today, her company – Tala – serves millions of people in East Africa. It has received more than $44 million in venture funding, including Lowercase Capital, GV, and Data Collective.

Another inspirational fintech entrepreneur is Marta Krupinska (@mmeentrepreneur). Born in Poland, she went to Dublin to work as a waitress but found it difficult to send money back home. So, she started a money transfer company called Azimo. Today, the company serves millions of customers every month in more than 195 countries.

The list of how women are contributing to the fintech world can go on and on.

At TradeSocio, we believe in the power of women. We believe in their skills and contributions to our brand. Therefore, one of our core values is to hire and promote women, without any discrimination. A good percentage of our team is made up of women who continue to contribute significantly to the progress of the firm. We have women in research, product development, and management levels.

We believe that companies that practice inclusive hiring and promotions tend to do well from a financial and social standpoint. In fact, a study by scholars from the Peterson Institute found that there was a positive correlation between women in senior management and the performance of their associated companies.

We are striving for equality in the fintech sector. To learn more visit www.tradesocio.com.

Wael Salem is an established thought leader within the Fintech and Investment scenes. CTO at TradeSocio, speaker and serial technology entrepreneur, Wael is passionate about innovation, simplifying complex problems and creating equal opportunities within the tech & investment scene. “Investing is simple. It’s the financial industry that works hard to make it complex” – Robert Rolih